Home > Tabari
Abu Jafar Muhammad ibn Jarir at-Tabari ( 838- 923), Iranian historian and theologian, was born in Amol, Tabaristan (south of the Caspian), and studied in Ray (Rages) , Baghdad, and in Syria and Egypt. "Tabari" means from Tabaristan. He died in Baghdad in 923.Cast upon his own resources after his father's death, he was reduced to great poverty until he was appointed tutor to the son of the vizier Tibaidalläh ibn Yaliya. He afterwards journeyed to Egypt, but soon returned to Bagdad, where he remained as a teacher of tradition and law until his death. His life was simple and dignified, and characterized by extreme diligence. He is said to have often refused valuable gifts. A Shafi'ite in law, he claimed the right to criticize all schools, and ended by establishing a school of his own, in which, however, he incurred the violent wrath of the Hanbalite s.
His works are not numerous, but two of them are very extensive. The one is the Tãrikh ur-Rusul wal-Mulük (History of the Prophets and Kings), generally known as the Annals. This is a history from the Creation to AD 915, and is renowned for its detail and accuracy. It has been published under the editorship of MJ de Goeje in three series, comprising thirteen volumes, with two extra volumes containing indices, introduction and glossary (Leiden, 1879-1901). A Persian digest of this work, made in 963 by the SamanidThe Samanid dynasty (819-999) was a Persian dynasty in Central Asia, named after its founder Saman Khuda. They revived Persian traditions and language after the Arab invasion of Iran. Their capitals were Bukhara, Samarqand and Herat. The Samanids were the scholar al-Bal'ami, has been translated into French by H Zotenberg (vols. i.-iv., Paris, 1867-1874). A Turkish translation of this was published at ConstantinopleConstantinople (Roman name: Constantinopolis; Greek: Konstantinoupolis or ) is the former name of the city of Istanbul in Turkey. Its original name was Byzantium ( Greek: Byzantion or Bυζαντιο&nu pronounced roughly B (1844).
His second great work was the commentary on the Koran, which was marked by the same fullness of detail as the Annals. The size of the work and the independence of judgment in it seem to have prevented it from having a large circulation, but scholars such as Baghawi and SuyutiJalal-ud-din Abd-ur-Rahman bin Abu Bakr As-Suyuti ( 1445- 1505), Arabian encyclopaedic writer, was the son of a Turkish slave woman. His father, who was of Persian descent, had been cadi in Asyut ( Upper Egypt) and professor in Cairo, but died before his used it largely. It has been published in thirty vols. (with extra index volume) at CairoCairo ( Arabic: ; romanized: al-Qāhirah is the capital city of Egypt and has an estimated metropolitan area population of 15 million. It is the largest city in both Africa and the Middle East and is currently the thirteenth most populous city in the, 1902-1903. An account of it, with brief extracts, has been given by O Loth in the Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenlandischen Gesellschaft, vol. xxxv. (1881), pp. 588-628. PersianPersian , also known as Farsi (local name), Parsi Tajiki or Dari is a language spoken in Iran, Tajikistan, Afghanistan and Uzbekistan. It has official-language status in the first three countries. There are over 75 million native speakers. It belongs to t and TurkishTurkish is a Turkic language, spoken by about 70 million speakers in Turkey and over 85 million speakers world-wide. The Turkish name for the language is Turkce''. Classification Turkish is a member of the Turkish family of languages, which includes Balka translations of the commentary exist in manuscript. A third great work was projected by Tabari. This was to be on the traditions of the Companions, etc., of Mahomet. It was not, however, completed. Other smaller works are mentioned in the Fihrist, pp. 234-235.
Reference
